Battle of the Boards 8-17-2012

Battle of the Boards 8-17-2012
It’s Back!

After a 1 year 10 month layoff Battle of the Boards returned to Gateway Motorsports Park.
The abysmal hot weather had finally broken and cooler temps and a stellar racing surface provided the fans and racers a great opportunity for some great racing. Four Internet boards, STLSpeed, STLMustangs, HorsepowerJunkie and Lethal1320 each brought a 4 car team for the 16 car showdown. There were awards for the winning board and winning car, but mainly, it was for bragging rights in the metro area.
Round 1
Temp- 69.6 Track Temp-85 DA- 1238
Round 1 kicked off a little after 10 pm with 16 cars pulling into the water box from in front of the grandstands in front of a rather large crowd with fans even sitting in the normally empty west stands for the start of the shootout.
First up Corey Stevens’ 88 small block Fessler Racing Mustang running for Lethal against Jarrod Richards’ 90 Richards Racing Mustang fronting STLMustangs. Richards cut a .007 light on the Pro 500 tree, but Stevens had too much horsepower running a 9.27 @ 162 to Richards’ 11.86 @ a slowing 86 mph. Richards did get credit for the “Light of the Night” with his .007 garnering the recognition.
Eric Luig for Lethal brought his 84 Matheis Racing Monte Carlo to the line next to face Chris Hermann’s 97 procharged GT Mustang representing HorsepowerJunkie. Luig left on Hermann at the line and his full pull 9.89 @ 149 bested the GT’s 10.89 @125.
Next up, Shawn McCauley’s “Stock with Pulley” 2001 WS6 for STLSpeed faced off against Philip Carl’s MD Performance 91 Mustang for STLMustangs. Neither driver was up on the wheel for the tree, but McCauley’s 10.27 @ 132 bested Carl’s 10.76@138 at the stripe.
Kevin Eisenbach running for STLMustangs brought his “Street Legal” 97 Cobra to face Shane Hinds in his 2009 4-door G8 for STLSpeed. Eisenbach left on Hinds, but was run down with the 10.80 @132 of Hinds taking the win light over his 11.76 @ 113. Unfortunately, before Hinds could even make it back to the timing shack and get a time slip he was booted from further competition by GMP due to a lack of safety equipment required to run at his speed. He had been warned on previous trips to the strip but nonetheless, he took the points for the round, but would play no further part in the showdown. Eisenbach would be back next round.
At the halfway point of the round Tony “Tooth” Lindahl running for Speed pulled his 03 Cobra into the water box set to face Derek Young’s clean 2007 Shelby GT 500 running for STLMustangs. At the hit it was Young with the light, at 60 foot it was still Young, but then the Turbocharged Cobra hit stride and put a blistering 9.92 @134 up on the board to take the win over the Shelby’s off-pace 13.60 @110. The win was great, but Lindahl also received the “Worst Light of the Night” award for his 1.731 initial offering.
Next up David Starns’ 91, 408 powered Ford Mustang for Lethal. His opponent, Darin Wilson with a unique and clean 79 Ford Fairmont sponsored by Wilson Towing and representing STLMustangs. Starns took this win with his 9.76 @ 119 proving too much for Wilson’s 10.30 @ 129, although Wilson did admit the combo is new and still getting sorted out.
The next pair pitted Jim Williams in his immaculate 80 silver Malibu running for Lethal. He faced off against Marty Shaw’s 418 powered 89 Mustang for HorsepowerJunkie. At the hit Williams left first hanging the front hoops, but then his car lost all power and came down dead in the water. He could only watch as Shaw sped away for the win with a 10.31 @ 103. When we say lost power…..literally, ALL power in Williams car went dead and left him stranded just past the 330 and they were still working later to identify the problem. The technical glitch and Shaw’s clean run sent Shaw into the next round.
To close out round one Eddie Pilla brought his 03 Cobra to the line for STLSpeed. He was set to face Matt Farmer’s 86 Mustang running a fresh 351 combo for HorsepowerJunkie. Pilla got the light and gradually stretched his lead at every increment for a 6 car gap at the stripe with his 11.58 @ 128 taking the round win over Farmer’s 11.86 @119.
Round 2
Temp- 65.2 Track Temp-81 DA- 984
After a long oil cleanup from a wheelstanding and subsequent hard landing motorcycle round 2 got underway just after midnight.
First up Corey Stevens vs. Eddie Pilla. Steven’s 88 Stang left hard with a .057 light, the wheels up and on a good pass, but as the nose continued to head skyward he short-shifted and his tranny refused to comply promptly trashing 2nd gear and bringing him down to an eventual rolling 25 second run. Pilla’s Cobra coasted to the win with a 12.29 @ 97 and into the next round. Stevens did get some kudos for his performance. His first round run stood up as the quickest and fastest of the night at 9.27 @ 162.
Eric Luig pulled in next to face Shawn McCauley. McCauley had been warned about going too fast without the requisite gear the previous round and was only going to be allowed the 11.50 max break this round. Luig chopped down the tree on his opponent with a .008 light and went…………….. about 10 feet as he blew up the planetaries and cracked the case on his tranny and came to a halt. Despite this, McCauley on a short leash ran it out the back door with a 10.18 @133. He won the round, but was booted by GMP and would not be back on this night.
The next matchup was one of the closest all night. Tony Lindahl lined up against David Starns. Both had run high nines the previous round and both cars were dialed in for the conditions. At the hit Starns had only a .05 advantage, the 60’ s were within 2 hundredths and the 330 numbers were within a hundredth, but at half track Starns’ car showed big horsepower numbers with a tenth and 6 mph over Lindahl. At the stripe, Starns had a 3-4 car advantage with his 9.56 @ 161 taking the win over Lindahls 9.89 @149.
To round out round 2 Kevin Eisenbach and Marty Shaw pulled to the line. Eisenbach cut another stellar light on the pro tree, but Shaw had the horsepower to run him down with Eisenbach’s 11.79 @ 113 coming up short against Shaw’s 9.99 @118.
Semi Finals
Temp- 63.1 Track Temp-76 DA- 857
The semi’s proved once again that it is not always the fastest car that goes rounds. BOTB always tries to run 2 cars down the track. With the break/boot rule, a round loser comes back next round if the winner cannot make the call. Unfortunately, Luig broke and McCauley got the boot so Eddie Pilla had to only take the tree to advance to the next round and did so running a lifting 14.51 @ 66 to take his berth in the finals.
The other final round berth would go to either David Starns’ 91 Turbo Ford or Marty Shaw’s 89 Mustang. At the hit Starns got the light and was on his way. Both drivers suffered spin during the run, but Starns pedaled his ride better and ran a 9.68 @ 160 to Shaw’s 10.32 @128 to book his spot in the finals.
Finals
Temp- 62.9 Track Temp-72 DA- 785
2:17 AM…. Yep…. Despite delays and oil downs a large crowd was still around to see the finals run for the first edition of BOTB at GMP since 2010. “Lucky” Eddie Pilla as he was being called had performed consistently all night and was in the finals. His opponent David Starns was also consistent as well and had pushed his Turbo Mustang in the 9’s all night to book his final round berth.
Pilla got the jump on the tree en route to his best run of the night, but Starns’ Turbo power proved to be too much and despite having to pedal the car numerous times during the run he ran a 10.10 @ 149 to take the event win over Pilla’s 11.10 @131.
Final Stats:
Event Winner: David Starns (Lethal1320.com)
Event R/U: Eddie Pilla (STLSpeed.net)
Best ET: Corey Stevens- 9.278
Best Speed: Corey Stevens- 162.53 mph
Board Winner: STLSpeed.net
Board R/U: Lethal1320.com
Points: STLSpeed- 14 Lethal- 12 HorsepowerJunkie- 4 STLMustangs- 0